One Year On
by JantoFan
Summary: Sequel to 'The New Girl' Characters improved! I promise! One year from the events of The New Girl, and things are going well. But when two familiar faces show up, will everyone be strong enough?
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, first of all I want to thank those people who actually reviewed 'The New Girl'! I've been going over my old fics, and having re-read it I realise that Rachel was a bit of a Mary-Sue character (ahem). In my defence; that was the first story I ever wrote, I didn't even know what a Mary-Sue **_**was **_**at that point, I kind of just wrote whatever came into my head. Probably should have got a beta or something, but w/e. I like to think I'm better now :)**

**Anyway, yeah. As I said; I know that now, but I can't really re-write her as a totally new character now I've said she has 'abilities', but I have tried to tone her down as much as possible.**

**This one probably won't be as long as 'The New Girl', so don't worry lol.**

**The idea for this fic came from my sister Katie, who is a big closet Torchwood fan :) so this is dedicated to her.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, or Doctor Who. I do however own Rachel.**

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The Doctor grinned as Rachel entered the TARDIS console room, hair still wet from the shower. She scowled at him.

"I don't know what you're so happy about! We almost got eaten alive out there! Plus I ended up with all that weird alien goo all over me."

He laughed. "Oh, come on! You have to admit it was pretty funny."

"Easy for you to say. You weren't standing right next to the bloody thing! You just had a nice bird's eye view as it exploded on me!"

He grinned at her again, and she felt her 'angry face' begin to melt into a grin. "Stop it."

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You know very well what!"

He held out a hand, and despite herself she took it. The Doctor pulled her towards him and held her so her back was too him, and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Tell you what." he whispered in her ear, making her shiver. "Why don't you pick where we go next. You can pick somewhere nice and safe and goo-less and I promise I won't complain. Too much."

She smiled and batted him playfully on the head. She thought for a bit. "Can we go to Torchwood? You know, see Ianto and Jack and the others?"

He released her and looked at her in surprised amusement. "21st century Torchwood? I offer you safe and you pick that?!"

"Oh come on, don't tell me you'd have been happy if I'd chosen the Chanthai galaxy or a star-cruise ship or something. Besides, it's nice to have a bit of danger. I like the running."

The Doctor grinned again, pushing buttons and handles. "It's why I love ya! Now, hold on tight. 21st century Cardiff, here we come!"

As soon as the ship stopped moving, Rachel darted for the exit. She paused, her hand on the door handle, and turned. "Now, you are sure when we are, aren't you?"

"What?"

"Only, I know what you're like. I don't wanna go out there and find it's, like, the year 2087 or anything like that."

"I am not that bad!" the Doctor pouted.

"Oh, you so are! Remember when we planned to go to 31st century France; went outside and it was bloody 1993! Come on, check!"

The Doctor sighed impatiently, but obediently spun the screen round to face him and read off the date. "There, you see! Cardiff, about one year after we were last here. Satisfied?!"

"Yup." She held out her hand and the Doctor slipped on his brown coat and took it. "Now, let's go see what they've been up to!"

* * *

Ianto didn't even bother turning round when he heard the door to the tourist office open. "Sorry, we're closed."

"Oh, I suppose we'd better go away then!"

He spun round instantly. "Rachel!"

"Alright babe?" she ran to him and he pulled her into a hug, grinning. After about 10 seconds he released her and held out his hand to the Doctor, who shook it.

"You guys still together then?"

"Oh yes."

Rachel grabbed his arm to get his attention back. "So, come on, how's everybody been? How are you and Jack? Owen? Tosh? Gwen? Come on, I want to hear everything…you ok?"

Ianto's face had fallen. He looked almost ill suddenly. "Since…um…after you left there was an…incident. Tosh and Owen didn't make it."

"Oh my God. Why didn't you call me?"

He smiled sadly. "What exactly could you have done? It's not like we could have had a funeral for them, is it?"

"Guess not. But still, you should have called. How are you?"

"I live. Come on. I'm sure Jack will be thrilled to see you!"

"Jack! We have guests!" Jack jerked his head up in confusion. What the hell? Guests?! He walked over to his office door and stuck his head out.

"Doctor?!" he bounded down the stairs grinning and pulled the other man into an embrace, then quickly let go of him. "Wait, why are you here? Usually that means trouble."

"No, no this is just a social visit, I promise!" suddenly he swore and bent over, clutching his head. Rachel was at his side in an instant.

"Doctor? Doctor, what's wrong? Talk to me."

"Cant you hear it?"

"What?"

"The…_static_?!"

They all listened. Rachel frowned. Now he mentioned it, there was a slight…disturbance to the air. Sort of like if someone has a badly tuned TV in another room. "There's…something. I'm guessing it's worse for you than for the rest of us?"

"Speak for yourself. I can't hear anything." Jack told her. Ianto nodded.

"Me neither."

The doctor suddenly straightened up. "Ok, it's gone now."

"Should we not…investigate?"

He grinned. "Nah. Probably nothing."

Rachel bit her lip as Jack began to incessantly question the Doctor about what they'd been up to. Whatever he said, he had felt something. And in their life, that was very unlikely to be unimportant.

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Hope you like the first chapter! Reviews are absolutely loved!


	2. Chapter 2

"You ok?"

Rachel jumped as Ianto's voice spoke from right behind her. She had been standing stock-still amongst the archives; trying to shake the feeling she was being watched. Seemingly, she had been; by Ianto.

"Hey. Yeah, sorry. How long have you been there?"

He frowned, confused. "I haven't. I literally just came in. why?"

"No reason." The uneasy feeling bubbled up in her stomach again. "How's Gwen? I haven't seen her yet."

He smiled. "Oh, Gwen's her usual cheery self, trying to save the world one hug at a time."

"I.E; she's being a total pain in the arse?"

"Well…" the two friends burst out laughing. It felt nice, Ianto thought, having the young woman back in the Hub. He'd missed her. "How long has it been?" he asked, when they had both stopped laughing.

"Hmm?"

"Since you saw me. I mean, it's been what, a year? What about for you?"

She shrugged, considering. "I dunno. Probably about the same? Maybe a little less"

He nodded. Rachel grinned at him, and adopted a pleading expression. "So…can I have some coffee? No-where in the **entire **universe makes it as good as you do!"

The young Welshman laughed. "Go on then. Why not."

He walked out of the archives, Rachel following close behind. But not before she'd glanced back into the seemingly deserted area, certain once again that she was being watched.

They were only halfway to the kitchen when the front door rolled open and a young, dark haired woman walked in. Rachel blinked. "Martha?"

The young woman started and turned to look at her. "Rachel! What're you…is The Doctor here?"

"Yeah, should be around here somewhere. Umm…why are you here?"

"Oh! I work here now. Got sort of tired of UNIT. I've taken over from… Owen."

"Right. Yeah. Well, it's great to see you! Wait until The Doctor knows you're here!"

* * *

"…and then I said 'well, you shouldn't have left it in there! And she was like 'well, i told you...'" the Doctor broke off from his anecdote as the three people walked in. "Martha!"

"Alright?" she grinned at him, then hugged him. "What're you doing here?" she asked when they broke apart.

"Oh, you know, just visiting. Rachel's idea. So, you're Torchwood now are you? Never did like those UNIT people, its gone downhill since the old days." He grinned. "Anyway! How are you? How's Tom?"

"He's great! Actually, we were going to…Doctor?"

The Doctor had suddenly frowned as if in pain, and was looking around him.

Rachel concentrated. She could just about make out a faint disturbance in the air. Not as strong as last time. "Can you hear it again?" she asked, "that static noise?"

He nodded, seemingly not wanting to speak. Then, almost as abruptly as it had come, the sound vanished. The Doctor grinned, releasing a breath he was not even aware he was holding. "Ok, all better now."

"Doctor…"

"I'm fine. Really. Martha, you were saying…?"

But what Martha had been about to say he didn't find out, because at that moment a piercing alarm broke the silence.

"Damn! Rift active! Martha, see if you can get a hold of Gwen. Ianto! If you could be so good as to bring the SUV around!" both team members hurried off to do as they were told. Jack mock-glared at The Doctor. "That thing hasn't sounded for weeks. Why is it that whenever you're around alien activity suddenly increases ten-fold?"

The Doctor grinned at him. "Me and Rach can come too, right?"

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I know it's uber short; but this seemed like the best time to end the chapter! Should have another update for you in a couple of days, along with my other fic 'A Long Way From Home.' (Self promoting? Moi? What on earth gave you that idea?)

**Reviews are adored, as always you lovely people!x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Really sorry this has taken so long to update! Still, it's done now and as promised, it's a longer one! Plus, I should have another update by tomorrow :) **

**Hope you like it!****  
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The two cars screeched to a halt in a dark street, next to an alley; the Torchwood SUV, and Gwen's own blue car. Everyone quickly got out, and gathered around Jack, checking their weapons as he barked instructions at them.

"Ok; Martha and Ianto, you two go that way. Rachel, you go with Gwen and go that way. Doctor, you're with me."

"Right." Gwen frowned. She had gotten over what had happened last time, even she couldn't hold a grudge for a year, but she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the younger woman. "Cant I go with you, Jack? Let The Doctor go with Rachel?"

Jack glared at her, then smiled. "I would, but he does insist on not carrying a gun. And Rachel may be fast, but I'm best with the weapons. So, off you pop!"  
Gwen glared at him. She hated being patronised.

"So, what've you been up to?" Rachel asked, struggling to make conversation.

"Oh, you know, this and that. Rhys and I moved into a bigger flat."

"That must be nice."

"Yeah, yeah it is."

"Cool."

There was an awkward silence, broken only by the sound of their footsteps and the slight _swish _as they moved their guns in front of them to point at the shadows.

"Yeah, you know, we should probably not talk. Don't want anything that came through to hear us."

"Oh, yeah, totally. Good idea."

They walked on for what felt like an age. "There's nothing here." Gwen said aloud. Rachel nodded. "There's nothing here." She repeated, this time into her earpiece and directed at Jack.

"Ok, Gwen. You and Rachel head back to the SUV, and we'll…" but Gwen didn't hear any more, because at that moment they heard a bin falling over and a muffled voice. Rachel instantly leapt into action, motioning to Gwen that she would go one way; Gwen was to go the other. The part of the back-alley they were in now was like a loop, whoever, or whatever, it was, couldn't get out without passing her or Gwen. Unless it could jump bloody high.  
As soon as she was on her own, Rachel felt the familiar rush of adrenaline and perverse joy. Why the hell did she enjoy danger so much? She had no idea, but she didn't care. She enjoyed the fun times with the Doctor of course, but it was times like this; times when she could smell the potential danger; when her senses honed so she could almost hear the air around her. That's when she felt truly alive.  
As she rounded the next corner in front of her, she almost cried out at how close she was to someone, she jerked back, bringing her gun up to level with their head, then blinked in surprise when the figure did the same.

"Oh!" a voice said from the darkness. "Are you ok? Are you lost?"

"Huh?"

"I can help you. I've got friends, yeah? They can help."

Rachel frowned. Slowly, trying not to disturb the person, she swung her torch round so she could properly see their face. Then promptly swore and stepped backwards, staring in horror. The woman in front of her frowned then reached up and touched an earpiece almost identical to Rachel's own. "Control? I've found the source; I should be back in about half an hour. Control? Hello?" she twiddled with the device, frowning.  
Rachel swallowed, then touched her own earpiece. "Jack? I've found it." Her voice sounded strange and hazy even to her, so she wasn't surprised at the note of panic in the captain's voice when he replied.

"Are you ok? Where are you? Where's Gwen?"

"Around."

"Do you need backup?"

"No…no I can handle this…"

"You sure?"

"Yeah…"

She could almost hear Jack's confused thoughts. "Rachel, what caused the Rift activity?" he asked slowly and carefully.

Rachel swallowed and looked at the woman in front of her, who was gazing at her in a mixture of confusion and apprehension. "An old friend. We'll see you back at the Hub." She said softly, and terminated the link before Jack could reply.  
She breathed deeply, trying to collect herself. She knew who this was, she'd seen her picture in the TARDIS often enough. She forced herself to smile, but if anything this alarmed the woman in front of her even more. Rachel lowered her weapon and held out her hand. "Rose Tyler. Welcome home."  
Rose blinked in confusion. "Home?"

"You're coming with me, back to Torchwood. I'm with The Doctor."

The expression of shocked delight which appeared on her face made Rachel's stomach jolt slightly.

* * *

As Rachel walked back towards Gwen's car, she felt as though something terrible were about to happen. She could see Gwen out of the corner of her eye, the older woman kept glancing at Rose. Rachel could tell she was just itching to ask her questions, but so far she was respecting the warning look Rachel had given her when she had caught up with her. Rose herself was looking around her in wonder, as though it was Paris; rather than a dirty little street in the worst part of the city.

Rachel felt inexplicably nervous as the big cog door began to roll open. She could see Jack and The Doctor, and both men jumped and swung around at the noise. She smiled when she saw the Doctor's face; the look of intense relief when he saw her. He got up and hurried forwards, as if to hug her, and then froze; eyes widening. He had caught sight of Rose. Instantly, he grabbed her into a hug instead, closing his eyes and saying her name over and over, as though he couldn't quite believe it was her. Rachel accidently caught Gwen's eye, and the look of intense pity in the older woman's face disturbed her even more than the hug. It proved she wasn't just being paranoid. She instantly turned and walked away quickly; heading down to the vaults and the archives. When she reached the entrance; she glanced back. The Doctor hadn't even looked at her again. He didn't even seem to realise she'd left.

"I can't believe they left without us!" Martha moaned, as she and Ianto looked around the empty space where the SUV had been parked.

"What do you think happened?"

"I think they forgot us, Ianto. They probably got whatever it was, and just took it back to the Hub!"

Ianto gave her a small smile, and touched his earpiece. "Jack! Hello? It's Ianto. Jack?" he shook his head. "Nope. It doesn't seem to be on. Either that, or he's ignoring me."

"Try calling him."

"Will do." he took out his mobile and scrolled through his address book, until he found Jack's number. Just as he was about to dial, however, it began to ring. Both he and Martha almost jumped out of their skins, then laughed shakily at each other. He answered the call. "Hello?"

"Yan!" he could hear instantly that the younger woman was holding back tears. Also that she was running.

"Rachel? What's wrong, what's happened?"

Martha stepped forwards at the concern in his voice. "Has something happened?" she asked.

Ianto shrugged. "Rachel? Is everyone ok?"

"They're fine, they're all fine. I just…she's back…"

"Who's back?"

"I mean, I thought she might be. But I never thought…I was right there, Ianto! He never even looked at me!"

"Who never looked at you?"

"…"

"Rachel?"

But she had already hung up. Martha frowned slightly. "What was all that about?"

"I have no idea. But I'm calling Jack."

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Rachel leaned against the wall, trying to slow her breathing. She wasn't going to let herself cry, not for him. Not again. She wasn't sure why she'd called Ianto, or why she'd hung up on him. Just that, somehow, telling someone else had made it more real.

Too real.

She'd known about Rose, of course, but she'd never really seen her as a possible threat before. Not since she and the Doctor got together, anyway.

And yet, Rose was up there with the Doctor hugging her like he would never let her go; and she was down here, in a stinking, slightly damp room, where they kept all the broken alien devices which they had the misfortune to find.

Her head hurt. She couldn't stop tears from spilling from beneath her eyelids. She was upset, and she was angry. She wouldn't even mind that he was hugging Rose; if he'd just hugged her first, checked she was ok first…

Wait, something was wrong. That pain in her head, that was actual pain, not just psychological. Rachel gasped, her mouth suddenly incredibly dry. What the hell was happening here? Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. _Maybe it was nothing after all…_

She slid down the wall and sat on the floor, fully aware that the damp was going to ruin her jeans but finding it very hard to care. She buried her face in her hands.

"Pathetic. As if you've got anything to cry about!"

Rachel raised her head quickly to glare at the speaker. A few seconds later, her brain caught up with what her eyes were seeing and her mouth dropped open instead.

"Oh, what will I do? His ex is back and he's happy…boo-fucking-hoo! Life must be _so _terrible for you!" the person said, their voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh God." She whispered to herself. "He's actually driven me mad!"

Because this person _couldn't _be here.

He was dead.

He was gone.

Owen.

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**Should have another update up for you soon! Reviews are loved :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel sat there, frozen, staring at the man who couldn't possibly be there. _This is crazy…_she thought. She looked away, rubbed her eyes, and looked back. Oh God, he was still there…

At that moment the Owen-figure looked up and caught her eye. A frown creased his forehead. He walked over to the other side of the room, then back again. Rachel watched him warily, very aware that, as she was sat down on the floor, she was vulnerable. He ducked down so that he was crouched at eye level with her.

"Hold on. Can you _see _me?!"

Rachel instantly averted her gaze, but it was too late. He knew she'd been watching him.

"You can see me, can't you? Tell me you can see me."

She kept her eyes firmly focused on the opposite wall.

"For God's sake, you were just staring at me! Please say you can see me!"

Reluctantly, she forced her gaze back to the face of the man in front of her. "I can see you." she whispered.

His eyes opened wide in shock. "How can you see me? I don't even have form…"

"Who are you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I know I haven't seen you in a while, but surely you remember me."

"No. I remember Owen. You're not him."

"Who else would I be?"

"I don't know. But he died." She stood up, instantly feeling more in control. "He died, and you can't come back from the dead…"

"Umm, hello? Remember how I did _just that_ after I got shot?"

She ignored him. "…you're not him. You can't be. He was vaporised."

The man sighed. "Yes, I was vaporised. But only my body. It's like Martha said; I don't heal, I don't age, I don't die. I just exist. Only, turns out even being turned into atoms isn't enough to get rid of me. I've just been…existing…for the best part of seven months now. No form, no breath, no words. None of the others even know I'm here." His expression brightened slightly. "But now you can tell them!"

"No."

"Why?"

Rachel looked at him. "They'll think I'm crazy. If I'm honest, I think I'm crazy. I'm not going to tell them this…"

He sighed impatiently. "Bloody hell girl, you want to keep the most irritating things to yourself! You know, I never did really understand your reasoning for not telling us what was going on last year, and I definitely don't understand this! I'm going through a living hell here! Do you even care?! If they know I'm stuck here, they can help! Maybe find a way to let me move on, let me be with…" he trailed off, staring down at the floor.

Rachel stared at him. "How can you bare it?" she said softly.

"I don't have any choice." He looked up at her again. "Look, Rachel, there are three options here; either I'm really still here, this is all a hallucination on your part, or I'm some alien shape shifter thing taking the appearance of Owen Harper. Don't you think, regardless of which one it is, you should tell the others? I mean, lets face it, if you think your making this up you still need help."

"I…"

She broke off when someone walked into the room. Ianto.

"Rachel?" he asked, looking around curiously. "Were you just talking to someone?"

She hesitated, glancing at Owen.

"Yes! Bloody hell, tell him you were talking to me!" he turned to Ianto, walked right up to him so their noses were practically touching. "God-damnit, tea-boy, I'm RIGHT HERE!" he yelled into his face.

Ianto didn't even blink.

"No." Rachel said softly. "No, I wasn't talking to anyone."

The look of intense disappointment and anger on Owen's face almost broke her heart.

"I…I met Rose." Ianto began, hesitantly.

She smiled bitterly. "Course you did."

"Rachel, he chose you. Not her."

"But she got trapped in a parallel world, supposedly forever! What if she hadn't, would he have chosen me then?"

"He loves you. Just because she's back, doesn't change that. If Lisa were to miraculously come back, do you really think that would mean I would chuck Jack to be with her?"

"I guess not."

He smiled encouragingly. "Do you want to come back upstairs?"

Rachel considered. "Has he asked where I am yet?" Ianto stayed silent. "Guess that's my answer, huh? Any chance there's a back entrance you could slip me out of? I think I'd rather just go back to the TARDIS."

He nodded. "Sure. Follow me."

As Rachel left the room, she glanced back. Owen was still there, staring at her. "I'm sorry." She whispered. He said nothing, merely seemed to fade out of existence.

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Reviews are loved! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Jack closed the front door to the flat and looked around. "Ianto? Ianto, you here?"

The younger man's head appeared from the kitchen doorway. "Hey."

Jack felt a ridiculous surge of relief, which annoyed him. What exactly did he think might have happened? "Where the hell did you go?"

"When?"

"I said hi to Rose and when I turned around you'd gone! What happened to you?"

"I went to find Rachel." Jack blinked, and Ianto's face darkened slightly. "Did you notice she wasn't there either?"

"Of course I did!" Jack said, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. He tried to picture the scene from earlier; his joy at seeing his old friend again, listening to her stories…no, truth be told, he hadn't given a second thought to the Doctor's current companion. Who, he thought with an immense feeling of guilt, was supposed to be one of his friends. He looked up to see Ianto staring at him, eyebrow raised. "Ok, maybe I didn't notice she wasn't there. But come on, Yan, Rose was important to me! She saved my life!"

Ianto glared at him, then sighed and his face softened. "Sorry, Jack. I'm not angry with you, really I'm not. Of course you were happy to see Rose. I just…I feel bad for Rach; The Doctor barely even looked at her after she got back."

"He was happy too!"

"Yeah, but she's meant to be his girlfriend!"

Jack wasn't sure he could see Ianto's point of view, but he didn't press the issue. He had no desire to start an argument. Instead, he held out his arms and beckoned Ianto into a hug, wrapping his arms around the younger man's body and kissing the top of his head. "You know, in all this excitement, I almost forgot it's exactly one year since you got out of hospital."

Ianto thought for a moment, then grinned. "How on earth did you remember that? You can't even remember where you leave your keys every day."

"I remember what's important."

"Having a flat to go home to isn't important?"

"Mmm. Depends if your in it or not." Jack told him, then lifted his head and planted a searing kiss on his lips. Ianto responded instantly, running his hands through Jack's hair. Jack broke the kiss and lowered his head, sucking and biting and kissing Ianto's neck, making him gasp and moan.

"Jack, I…I'm trying…I'm cooking dinner…"

"That's nice." Jack murmured, accompanying the words with another gentle nibble to his skin and running his tongue along the young man's throat. Ianto shivered slightly and let out a small moan.

"It'll burn."

"So it will."

Jack raised his head again and once more captured the young Welshman's mouth, his hands going up to undo Ianto's shirt and pushing him back onto the sofa…

Dinner got burnt.

But neither of them cared.

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"Rachel? Are you ok?"

Rachel looked up from where she was sitting, perched on the edge of the bed in her old bedroom in the TARDIS. "Why?"

"You disappeared earlier."

"Oh, you noticed did you? How long did that take?"

He frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Doctor. When you saw Rose Tyler walk into that room, I might as well have not existed. Do you have _any_ idea how that made me feel?"

"What, so I'm not allowed to pay attention to any other woman, is that it?"

Rachel looked at him like he was stupid. "Of course that's not bloody it! What I do have a problem with is when you're so busy paying attention to them that I don't even get a look in! And her, clinging to you like you were her oxygen…"

"I hadn't seen her for years! I thought she was lost! For God's sake Rachel, she's my friend! I don't get all weird and jealous when you hug Ianto, do I?!"

"That's different!"

"How?"

"Does she know we're a couple?"

The Doctor didn't reply, staring at his shoes. Rachel's mouth fell open slightly.

"I…I see." She hadn't really expected him not to have told Rose. What did that mean, when he hadn't told his 'ex', who had obviously been in love with him, that he had a girlfriend? "I…I think I should go…"

"Rachel…" he reached out a hand to grip her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.

"No, don't…don't touch me. I just need to be alone right now…"

"Rachel, look at me." She did. "I'm sorry, ok? I honestly just didn't think. Please don't be angry, hey?" he smiled hopefully at her, and she felt herself weakening. "Come on Rach, come and say hello to Rose."

But it turned out there was no need for her to go anywhere, because at that moment Rose appeared in the doorway.

"Hi! Rachel, was it? We didn't really have a chance to speak earlier. I'm Rose."

She held out her hand, grinning broadly, and Rachel shook it, attempting to smile back. "Yeah. Hi."

"So how long have you been travelling with the Doctor then?" Rose asked, patting his arm. Rachel's eyes narrowed slightly.

"About two years. It's hard to tell in here!"

"Tell me about it! Always moving time periods, it's a nightmare!"

"Yeah."

"So, what about your family? Do they know where you are?"

"No. To be honest, mum'd be a bit shocked if I rang her now! It's at least a year until I even meet The Doctor. If you get what I mean."

Rose looked surprised. "You just left them?"

She shrugged. "I do call sometimes. Just not when I'm on Earth before I left in the timeline. As far as my mum knows I've been gone for a week. She thinks I'm in Italy with friends."

"Oh. So you got a boyfriend you want to get back to?"

"I don't need to get back to anyone. But I do have a boyfriend, yeah."

"What's his name?"

Rachel looked at the Doctor. He said nothing, just stared down at his battered old trainers. She blinked, hurt.

"Right!" she said, making him jump. She was slightly angry now. "Obviously you're not going to say anything! I so need some space right now. If you'll excuse me, I need to go get some stuff out of **our **bedroom!"

As she left the room, Rachel couldn't help a feeling of satisfaction when she saw Rose's jaw drop and the young woman look at the Doctor in complete shock.

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Reviews make me smile :)


	6. Chapter 6

Ianto scrambled out of bed quickly when he heard the knocking on the door. It sounded urgent. Grabbing a dressing gown to preserve dignity, he hurried out of the bedroom and pulled open the front door.

It was Rachel.

"Rach, what're you…" it was then that Ianto noticed the bag she had in her hand, and the fact that she looked close to tears. "What happened?" he asked sharply.

Rachel looked him up and down, taking in his dressing gown, then glanced past him to the hallway; which was currently housing his shirt and Jack's jeans that they'd been wearing that day. She flushed slightly.

"It doesn't matter. I'm interrupting. I'll…go someplace else…"

Ianto grabbed her arm and steered her into the flat. "Don't be stupid." He sat down next to her on the sofa. "Now talk to me. What happened?"

"Nothing. It's just…it's _him_. The Doctor. And Rose…"

"What about Rose?" Jack asked, wondering into the room. Ianto frowned at him, warning him to keep quiet.

"He…he wouldn't tell her we were a couple. And she was just standing there touching his arm like he was hers, and he wasn't saying anything. That on top of earlier when he didn't look at me and then I saw…" she broke off and seemed to check herself. Ianto wondered briefly what she had been about to say. "I just…I know how they used to be, you know? They were so close. She loved him. I just wish I knew what was going on in his head…"

"hey." Ianto put his arm around her shoulders and she leant into him, grateful for the comfort. "It's probably nothing, hey?" he glared at Jack, who had rolled his eyes.

"He's probably pissed at me now! I sort of…blurted it out to Rose that we were together…"

"You had every right to tell her."

"But why didn't _he_?"

"Is that why you have stuff?"

Rachel glanced down at her bag, as though she'd forgotten it was there. "I just…had to get some space. Oh God, what the hell was I thinking?! Leaving them alone together…"

"It's fine!" Ianto shushed her, trying to calm her down. "You can stay here tonight, talk to him properly tomorrow, ok?"

"But what if he takes off?!"

"He wont. I'm sure he won't." Ianto glanced up at Jack. The look on the older man's face told Ianto he wasn't quite so sure.

* * *

However, despite Jack's reservations, the next morning the TARDIS was to be found exactly where it had been the night before.

When they walked into the Hub, The Doctor and Rose were leaning against one of the desks, talking to Martha. When he caught sight of Rachel, The Doctor blinked nervously and moved a bit further away from Rose.

Rachel smiled and went over to him putting her arms around him. He instantly wrapped his own around her, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Doesn't matter."

When they broke apart, Rachel turned to Rose. "Can I talk to you for a moment? In private?"

"Sure." Rose cast an apprehensive look at the Doctor, and then followed the younger woman into the archives.

"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Rachel began. Rose smiled at her.

"It's fine, really."

"No, it's not. I acted like a spoilt, jealous bitch. I shouldn't have just blurted it out to you like that."

"Yeah, well…" Rose shifted uncomfortably. "So how long have you two…you know…together?"

"About a year."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I just wanted to say sorry. It's not like you planned to come here, it's not your fault."

"Thanks." Rose smiled again, and turned to leave. Rachel reached out and grabbed her arm. Maybe rather harder than was necessary.

"But just so we're clear." She said quietly. "I want to like you, I do. You're the Doctor's friend, and I want him to be happy." she tightened her grip a fraction. "But there is no room for you to be a permanent fixture in our lives. He's with me now, and we don't need company. Understand?"

Rose nodded, and Rachel let go of her arm; allowing her to walk free. "Oh, and Rose?"

She turned.

"The Doctor **doesn't** need to hear about this, ok?"

* * *

An hour later, Rachel was sat in Jack's office sorting through some alien artefacts that had been knocking around the archives unidentified. She had no idea what most of them were, but even the few she was able to identify made her feel useful. It was the least she could do.

The conversation with Rose had gone ok, although Rachel was afraid she'd come across a lot more threatening than she'd meant to. It was just; when she saw them together…she felt threatened. And she just didn't like it. Rose was practically his ex girlfriend!

With a sigh, she got back to sorting through the artefacts. Unbidden, her thoughts returned to the previous day. When she'd seen Owen.

It was ridiculous, really. He couldn't have been real. Just her anxiety over the situation. "People can't come back from the dead!" she muttered to herself.

"Glad you're so sure."

Rachel jumped, spilling a large metal object onto the floor. It rattled around when she picked it up. Damn. Broken. She looked up. "Owen?"

"God, are we going to have to go through this again? I saw you yesterday!"

"You're not real."

He rolled his eyes. "There is something really wrong with you, you know that?"

"Shut up."

"Truth hurts." He suddenly dropped the attitude and looked at her pleadingly. "Rachel, you have to tell them I'm here. Please."

Rachel hesitated for a few moments, staring at him. Then with a tremendous effort, she pulled her eyes back to the artefacts in front of her and picked up another one.

"Rachel?"

She kept sorting.

"Oh, so you're ignoring me now? That's mature."

Rachel bit her lip, and didn't respond. _If I don't pay attention, he'll go away._

"Rachel?"

She acted as though she hadn't heard. Then jumped violently and swung around when a hand was placed on her shoulder. The Doctor backed away, eyes wide. He had narrowly avoided being clubbed in the head by the gun she was holding. "You ok?"

"Sorry, Doctor."

She glanced over at where Owen had been.

He was still there. Laughing at her for being so jumpy.

Rachel looked back at the Doctor and saw he was frowning in pain. "You ok Doctor?"

"Yeah. It's that static again." he squinted into the corner at where Owen stood.

"Can you see something?" Rachel asked. If the Doctor could see Owen, maybe she wasn't crazy…

"No."

Oh.

"It just…it feels like it's coming from that direction…" he frowned.

Rachel stared at him. The Doctor shook his head and smiled. "Ok! Gone again." then he frowned. "These 'static' headaches are happening rather too frequently…something going on, you think?"

Rachel whipped her head around to where Owen had stood.

He'd gone.

And so had the static.

_Oh my God._

_He can sense Owen._

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Reviews are loved!


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you _sure _you haven't brought anything weird into the Hub that could be causing this?" the Doctor asked Jack, for about the sixth time.

Jack sighed. "Doctor, if we had; believe me, I would tell you. But we haven't, none of the equipment has picked up anything unusual. There is nothing in this building causing those headaches."

Rachel bit her lip. She could tell them about Owen, get it over with. But she only had to glance at Rose and her resolve crumbled. _She _never claimed to see the dead. What if the Doctor thought she was crazy and he was better off with a sane companion like Rose?

_That wouldn't happen_ said a little voice in her brain. But still…she hated the way he and Rose were together. Jokey and flirty and talking about travels they'd had together. Despite what she'd said to her, Rose hadn't backed off from the Doctor. Or maybe she had; maybe Rachel was just being paranoid? _Probably_, she had to admit.

"There must be _something_!" the Doctor insisted. "This isn't just normal headaches, it's like I can hear something in the air…"

Rachel decided she couldn't really stay and join in with the conversation without admitting she thought she knew what the cause was, so she wondered off down to the cells. She wasn't entirely sure anymore why she wasn't telling them. she'd watched a few times, and the Doctor definitely showed signs of discomfort whenever Owen was around, which proved she wasn't crazy… so why was she still so hesitant to mention him?

She stood outside the Weevil's cell. "Hey Janet." She said softly. The creature inside snarled at her. "You're lucky not having to deal with stuff like this." The weevil lunged against the glass wall which divided them before snarling again. Rachel smiled. "True, I guess I'm not in a cage anymore."

"And at least people talk to you."

Rachel jumped about a foot in the air and spun around, glaring. "Jeez, Owen, you nearly gave me a heart attack! Don't sneak up on people!"

"Oh, I'm sorry; I wouldn't want you feeling bad." Owen said, sarcastically. Then he shrugged. "Besides, it's a bit hard when I don't have footsteps to give me away."

Rachel looked at him, sympathetically. "I still don't understand how you can be here without anyone noticing. I mean, so far me and The Doctor are the only ones who can tell you're here, and he can't see you just sense something's not right."

"Don't be so sure." Owen told her, pointing over her shoulder. Rachel turned, and saw Janet knelt on the floor making strange keening noises in her throat.

"The weevil's can sense you?!" she asked, confused.

"Yep. Still king of the weevils!"

"Cant you just turn up when one of the others is down here? They'd notice the weird behaviour, surely?"

"Nope. I tried that, they just assumed she was picking up some sort of weevil distress signal." He noticed Rachel's blank look, "they can sense when each other are in pain or whatever. I was trying to find out if it was a psychic link or pheromones or something." He sighed. "Guess I'm never gonna know, huh? Cant exactly finish the research."

"Guess not."

They stood in silence for a while, watching Janet. "I don't know what I'm going to do once you've gone." Owen said quietly. Rachel turned to him in surprise. "I mean, you're an irritating little bi-atch don't get me wrong, still don't understand why you're keeping me a secret, but you're the only person who can speak to me." He looked up at her. "You have no idea how lonely it got not having anyone say one word to you in months."

"I'm so sorry, Owen."

"Not like it was your fault, is it?" he hesitated, then grinned at her. "Well, now I can finally talk to someone, hows about you tell me about what you've been up to since I last saw you!"

* * *

"Seriously? Flying _mice_?"

Rachel giggled and took a drink out of the beer bottle she was holding. "Yep, flying mice! And you don't even want to know how the people got around. It was a bloody strange planet."

"Must've been if you were the most normal person there!" Owen said, smiling at her.

Rachel mock-glared at him. "You're lucky my hand would go right through you, or you'd be getting a slap right now!"

He laughed. "Seriously though, Rach, you're nowhere near as irritating and weird as I thought you were!"

She turned to him, an amused expression on her face. "Was there meant to be a compliment in there somewhere? You're getting all soft, Owen!"

"I can take it back, you know!"

"Rachel?" She spun her head to see the Doctor standing in the doorway, looking confused. "Were you just talking to someone?"

"Umm…no."  
Owen flung his hands in the air and shook his head at her, but she thought he looked more amused than angry.

"You were drinking on your own?"

Rachel looked down at the beer bottle and realised how it looked. "I was just…umm…thirsty?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and Rachel got up and went over to him. "I'm ok. I am."

"You're sure?"

"positive." She breathed, her mouth right next to his.

"Well, if you're sure…"

She kissed him deeply, pulling him close to her and gently nibbling his bottom lip. He raised a hand and ran it through her hair, and Rachel tried her hardest to ignore the retching noises from behind her. Obviously Owen was still around.

"Doctor, I…oh!" they broke apart and turned to look at the intruder. Rose stood there, looking mortified. "Err…I was just…um…"

Rachel accidently caught Owen's eye and felt an urge to laugh. She bit down on her tongue to try and stop herself, she had a feeling the Doctor and Rose wouldn't find this as funny as she did.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, seemingly completely oblivious to the young woman's embarrassment. Either that or he was ignoring it.

"I…Jack sent me to tell you we need you upstairs. There's been another major surge of Rift activity."

The Doctor frowned. "Another one? That's got to be the third today!" he turned to Rachel. "Coming?"

"Yeah."

"Oi!" Owen said indignantly. "What about me?"

Rachel shrugged, then surreptitiously gestured for him to follow. "I'll stay by the monitors." She whispered. "Claim I hurt my leg or something."

But it turned out Jack didn't need them to go out on any field missions, the Rift activity was close by so by the time they reached the computers he had already dispatched Gwen, Ianto and Martha.

"Do I want to know where you two have been?" he asked as they approached.

"Shut up!" Rachel told him good naturedly. "Some of us can control ourselves when we're in the Hub!"

Jack grinned at her. "Oh, but Ianto looked so hot doing that filing! No-one human would have been able to resist!"

She slapped him on the shoulder, laughing. "Maybe not, but I so didn't need to see it!" She turned her attention to the computer monitors. "So, what's going on out there?"

As if on cue, Jack heard Gwen's voice coming through the earpiece. "Jack? No problems here."

"Nothing came through?"

"No, it did, but it's dead."

"Could it have been killed by something that came with it? The last thing we need is an alien on the loose."

"No, Martha reckons it's been dead for at least 2 days. We're going to bring it back for a proper post-mortem."

"Ok, Gwen, we'll see you in ten."

He turned back to Rachel, Rose and the Doctor. "They found something, but it's dead."

"What's up with all the activity anyway?" the Doctor asked. "Didn't you say it's been quiet until now?"

"We've never seen it this unstable." He frowned at the Doctor. "You didn't do anything, did you?"  
"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're just a chaos magnet or something."

"Thanks."

"Pleasure."

Rachel rolled her eyes and glanced at Rose. The older woman grinned at her, a little shakily Rachel thought. She felt slightly uncomfortable at the relief which appeared in Rose's eyes when she grinned back. Glancing at the Doctor, Rachel saw his face relax slightly and realised Owen must have gone again. She made a mental note to ask him where he went when he wasn't there, if he even knew.

"So boys and girls!" Jack said, clapping his hands together. "You coming to watch the alien autopsy?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About five minutes later, Rachel, Rose, Jack and the Doctor were standing overlooking the autopsy table, where Martha was writing notes and occasionally taking measurements of the creature.

"We got a positive species ID yet?" she asked Jack. He looked over his shoulder at Ianto, who shook his head.

"Nope." Jack said, turning back to Martha.

"Oh well. I'm going to make the first incision."

"No!"

Rachel turned her head to see Owen standing there. No-one else reacted; she was the only one who heard. She frowned at him, questioningly.

"Don't let her cut that! I recognise the species; I saw it when I was visiting Torchwood 1. They're called Deas, when they reach maturity a huge pressure layer forms beneath the skin, it makes it seem as though it's dead!" she looked at him uncomprehendingly. "If she cuts it it's gonna wake up! And you do **not **want that!"

Rachel's eyes opened wide with shock, but she still said nothing.

"Rachel! For fucks sake, I'm not kidding around! Tell her not to make the incision!"

She watched as, as if in slow motion, Martha brought her scalpel down towards the creature's chest.

"Rachel!" Owen shouted again, "For God's sake, stop her! I know you don't want people to know I'm here, but you don't have any options!"

_Oh God._

_I have to tell them._

_But what if he's lying?_

_Oh God._

_What do I do?_

_Tell me what to do…_

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Hmm, nothing much happened in this chapter…oh well. I'll try and make the next one more exciting for you lol.

**Reviews are loved!x**


	8. Chapter 8

"Rachel, you have to tell her to stop!" Owen said again.

_Should I tell her? Or shouldn't I? What should I...oh shit, I have to. _"Stop!"

Martha paused, her scalpel just touching the creature's thick skin, and looked up at Rachel.

"What?"

Rachel froze, unsure what to do now. She had stopped Martha, sure, but now what? "Don't cut it."

"Why not?" asked Jack.

"It's called a…a…" she looked over at Owen.

"A Deas." He supplied.

"…a Deas." She continued, turning back to Jack. "It only looks dead. If you cut the skin you'll release a pressure layer causing it to wake up."

"And you didn't say something before?!" Jack said incredulously. He turned to the Doctor. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I've never heard of them." he said blankly.

"So how did she?" asked Rose, looking at Rachel. Everyone turned to stare at the young woman, who shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

"Because Owen told you. Because I fucking told you, tell them!"

"I…read about them." Rachel said weakly, glancing at Owen who dropped his shoulder in defeat. Jack frowned slightly, his eyes flicking from Rachel to the corner of the room where Owen stood.

"You read about them." he said, in a disbelieving tone.

"How else would I know?" she said challengingly, before walking off to tell Ianto to search for 'Deas' in the Torchwood database.

"I have no idea." Jack murmured to himself as he watched her leave. "No idea."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You," the Doctor said kissing Rachel softly on the nose, "are amazing. How did you remember about that Deas thing, it must have been ages ago you read that!"

"Umm, yeah." Rachel said, feeling uncomfortable. She hated lying to him. Especially with Rose in the background.

"You ok? You've seemed a little distant lately."

"I'm fine, babe. Really." she insisted, smiling up into his face and leaning up to kiss him.

"Rachel?" she turned her head and saw Ianto standing awkwardly to one side. "Jack wants you and me to go out on assignment. We've had more Rift activity."

"More?!" the Doctor exclaimed, looking confused. "What the hell is causing all this?" he walked swiftly past Ianto, heading towards Jack's office.

"Good catch earlier by the way." Ianto said as the two of them walked towards the SUV.

"What?"

"With that Deas thing."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Yes, well done Rachel." Came Owen's sarcastic voice from the back seat. Rachel glared at him over her shoulder.

"Rach? What're you looking at?" Ianto asked, puzzled.

"Nothing." She said, turning back to the front.

* * *

The Doctor looked up at Rose over the top of his glasses as she fiddled with one of the computers. "So, what will you do now you're back in this universe?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Guess I could work here if Jack'll have me! I have got Torchwood experience after all!"

"Jack'll have you any time you want!" Jack called from the other side of the room. They were all three so busy laughing that no-one noticed Rachel and Ianto walk in. The 'rift activity' had turned out to be nothing more than space junk, so it had been a relatively easy mission. She motioned to Ianto that he should go and help Jack; she'd take the stuff down to the archives.

"So, Torchwood Cardiff!" the Doctor said brightly to Rose. "A lot different to London!"

"Yeah, but I'll love it!"

"Or you could come with me."

Rachel froze on the threshold to the archives. Come with him? What about **her**?

"What about Rachel?" asked Rose, as if mirroring her thoughts.

"What about her?"

"Well…she'll mind."

"Nah, she won't. You're brilliant! Why would she mind?"

"Are you stupid, or just completely heartless?" Ianto asked loudly from behind him.

The Doctor turned, frowning. "What do you mean by that?!"

"Of course she'd mind!"

"What?" the Doctor seemed genuinely confused.

"How would you feel if Rachel brought one of her ex boyfriends into the TARDIS to travel with you?"

"Well…I wouldn't like it…" Ianto raised his eyebrows, and the Doctor let out a small 'oh' of comprehension. "She sees Rose as like my ex girlfriend."

"Exactly."

Jack joined in. "She's convinced that if Rose hadn't gone to a parallel world, you would never have picked her up. She feels threatened."

"Oh." he frowned at his trainers, as if they were the cause of all the upset.

Jack, sensing the conversation was over, dragged Ianto over to the computer he'd been working at and began pointing out random equations. They were trying to decipher Toshiko's old Rift Predicting software, because it wasn't predicting half the stuff they were getting.

Rachel turned to walk down to the archives once more when she heard Rose's voice. "Would you?"

"Would I what?" asked the Doctor.

"Would you have…umm…picked her up. You know...if I'd been there still."

He looked at her, saying nothing. Instead, he reached over and placed a hand on hers.

Rachel saw red. How could he? She turned and ran down into the archives, blinking back tears of anger and sadness. So she didn't hear his reply.

"Yes, I would. Rachel is…special. I knew that from the moment I saw her. So yes, I would always have picked her up. I'll always pick her up."

* * *

"How could he? How could he?!" Rachel muttered to herself, pacing the floor.

"I did try and say something." Came a sing-song voice from behind her.

She shot him a look that, if he hadn't already been dead, would surely have killed him. "Owen, how the hell are you always around when I don't want you?!"

"Charming. Did you see them though? How sweet, he was holding her hand and everything…"

"Shut up."

"You'll be like a little family on board the TARDIS!"

"Please shut up."

"It'll be so nice and cosy, the Doctor just needs to choose which girl to sleep with every night…"

"I said SHUT UP!" Rachel screamed at him. Owen fell silent. "What the fuck is your problem?! What happened to before, what happened to not wanting me to leave?! I thought we were finally getting somewhere, maybe even becoming friends, but _no_, you always have to put people down!"

"What fucking happened was you taking credit over the Deas! That would have been the perfect opportunity to tell them I was there, it would have been fucking proof! But you still didn't tell them! But maybe I'm being harsh, after all now the Doctor has a hot blonde in his life, why would he need you? Especially if people start to think you're crazy! He doesn't need some crazy bitch…"

Rachel couldn't stand the smug, demented smile on his face any longer. "Shut up! Why are you doing this to me?! Can you not bear to see anyone happy, is that it?! Poor little you, stuck here with no-one to play with. Is that what this is to you, is it a fucking game?! This is my fucking life! And, by the way, I'm hardly going to take relationship advice from you, am I?! You were too afraid to tell Tosh you loved her, before that was a woman who couldn't even bare to be with you for a week, before that you were fucking some morally fucked married whore, before that…"

The smile had gone from Owen's face now. He looked dangerous. "I swear to God, if you bring Katy into this I will…"

Rachel laughed, sounding a bit mad. "You'll what?! Come on, what will you do?! Waft air at me?! You're _nothing_! There is literally nothing you can do to me! How would you like it if I just stopped talking to you, hmm? Then where would you be? Alone! Which, lets face it, is exactly what you deserve! It would serve you right if I never told them you were here! You could just spend the rest of you're days drifting around talking to Weevils…"

"Rachel."

"Don't fucking interrupt me! You act so superior, but you have no power any more! I know my relationship is strong, I know the Doctor loves me! Rose is just a minor setback, I should have realised that. But it's you, isn't it?! You've been fucking with my head, making me paranoid. You deserve this life…"

"Rachel!"

"WHAT?!" she yelled, glaring up at Owen. He nodded over her shoulder.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Rachel revolved very slowly on the spot. Jack and Ianto were stood beside the door watching her warily, with their weapons drawn.

"Oh." she glanced back at Owen, who shrugged. "Shit."

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Gah! Damn writers block. Oh well, at least I finally managed to write something! Cookies for reviews!x


	9. Chapter 9

"Rachel, who're you talking to?" Jack asked, his eyes taking in the entire room.

"Umm…" Rachel looked at Owen, who waved at her. "…will you buy that I was talking to myself?"

"No."

"Yeah…didn't think you would." She sighed, and closed her eyes briefly. "Look, I'm not crazy."

"I'm sure you're not honey. Who's here? Does anyone else know about this?"

"Owen."

"Owen knew? This…whoever…was here last time you came?" Jack asked in surprise.

"No…well, technically yes, but that's not what I mean. It **is** Owen that I'm talking to. Owen's here."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Owen asked in a condescending tone.

"Shut up." She said wearily.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ianto exchanged a concerned look with Jack. He knew Rachel had been more stressed than usual since Rose had shown up, but he hadn't realised she was this close to breaking point.

"Rachel…Owen's dead."

She rolled her eyes. "I know that, Yan. I'm not an idiot."

Jack reached out and gripped her shoulder gently. "Tell you what, why don't we go upstairs. You can talk to the Doctor, ok?"

"I don't want to." She said, her face suddenly dark.

"It's ok. Look, just come upstairs Rach. Please?"

She sighed. "Fine. Fine, I'll go upstairs." She turned to Owen. "Coming?"

* * *

The Doctor looked up as he heard Jack and Ianto re-enter the main room from the archives. The first thing he noticed was that they had Rachel with them, and it looked like she'd been crying.

The second thing he noticed was that they had their weapons drawn.

He was at Rachel's side in an instant. "What is it, what's happened? Jack?"

"Just a minute, Doctor. Look, let's just get everyone settled in the boardroom, ok?"

Jack stuck his head into the autopsy room and beckoned Martha over. He then settled Rachel in the boardroom and left again, closing the door. Rachel could see him through the glass talking to the Doctor and Martha. All three of them kept glancing at her; looking increasingly alarmed.

"So, big moment. Secret's finally out!" Owen said from behind her. "I hate to say I told you so, but…ah, who the hell am I kidding; I **love** to say I told you so!"

"Shut up Owen." Rachel sighed. She glanced back at the door. "Tell you what, why don't you make yourself useful and go listen to what they're saying about me?"

However, just as Owen was about to leave the room, all three turned and walked into the boardroom. The Doctor instantly hurried to Rachel's side and squeezed her hand. The look of love and concern on his face filled her with joy, despite the situation.

"Rachel…Jack says you think Owen's back."

"He is."

"But…" he glanced quickly at Martha. "Sweetheart, people can't come back from the dead. He died, Rach."

"That's the thing; he didn't. It's like Martha said to him; he can't heal, can't age. Well, his body disintegrating was just like…a wound that he couldn't heal from. His spirit or soul or whatever was technically already dead, so it couldn't die again. So he never actually died in the power station."

"Rachel, think about this. If he survived the power station how come he's turning up now?"

She blinked in surprise. "He hasn't. He's been here the whole time, only none of you can tell he's there."

Jack looked disbelieving.

Owen waved his arm to get Rachel's attention. "Tell them it was me told you about the Deas. Go on, tell them!"

"I knew about the Deas because Owen told me. He'd seen them at Torchwood 1." She said wearily. She looked up in time to see a startled look pass between the Doctor and Jack, and felt a tiny pang of anger. "It's not working, Owen. They still don't believe you're here, they think I'm insane." She turned to Jack. "You do, don't you? You think I've finally cracked?"

"No-ones saying you're insane, Rach." Jack said delicately, "It's just…I know how stressed you've been over Rose coming back, and…I think maybe it's just a bit much for you that's all."

Owen walked up to him. "No! No, no no no! This isn't what's supposed to happen!" he whirled round to Rachel. "They're supposed to help me! Not think you've gone even more bonkers!"

"Well, what do you expect?!" she snapped. "For God's sake, Owen, they think you're dead! If I'd turned around last year and claimed…I dunno, Suzie was talking to me how would you have reacted?"

"I'd have probably thought you were off you're rocker." Owen admitted with a sigh.

"Exactly!" Rachel looked round and suddenly realised how strange that exchange must have looked, considering they could only hear her side. "He** is **here." She said. "And I have proof!"

"Oh?"

"The Weevils! They still sense him. King of the Weevils and all that." She looked guiltily at the Doctor. "And he's the one causing your headaches. Sorry, I should have told you."

"Oi! I'm not giving him headaches!" Owen protested.

"Not intentionally, no. but I've watched him when you're around; I think he can sense you as well. Only, not as good as me given that I can see you."

The Doctor glanced at Jack. "I do have a headache right now. I can hear the static." He admitted.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the room changed. It was one thing if Rachel was having some sort of mini breakdown; but breakdowns couldn't be heard by other people. Which meant that something must be there.

"Rachel, where is he right now?" Jack asked, gun drawn.

"About 2 meters to the left of you. He's waving." She told him. "I don't know what you think a gun's gonna do though. He has no substance."

"Rachel, have you considered that maybe this isn't Owen?"

"Of course it's Owen!"

"This sort of thing has happened before, Rachel. Ianto saw Lisa a while ago, but it wasn't really her. It was a trick."

"So ask me something only he would know. Go on. If it isn't him, he won't be able to respond will he?"

Jack considered this for a moment. "What was the first thing I ever said to him? The day we met."

Rachel looked at Owen. To her surprise, he looked slightly tearful. "He said 'I'm sorry'." He said hoarsely, "And told me he'd tried to tell them and I should prepare for the worst." He looked up at her. "It was when Katy died. He chloroformed me."

"He says you told him 'sorry', that you tried to tell them, and to prepare for the worst."

Jack went slightly pale.

"He also said it was when Katy died, and that you chloroformed him."

"Jack?" Martha asked. Jack started as though he'd only just remembered she was there.

"I…" he looked as if he were about to faint. "He's here?"

"Yes."

"Oh my God…" Jack collapsed into a chair, still staring at Rachel. Martha and the Doctor shared a worried look.

"Jack? Is that what happened?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes." Jack looked around as if expecting to see Owen standing behind him. "Yeah, that's what happened."

"Which means…?"

"Which means he's really here. Oh God, he's really here…"

Owen gave a relieved grin and flashed Rachel a thumbs up.

* * *

Gwen looked up when she heard the boardroom door open. She'd been talking to Rose, both women wondering why they'd been kept outside. Ianto seemed to know what was going on, but he'd told them nothing.

"Jack, what's going on?" Gwen asked, eyeing Rachel.

Ianto went to the captain's side. "Is she…?"

"Telling the truth." Jack told him. Ianto's eyes widened.

"The truth?" he whispered, gazing at the younger woman.

"Yeah."

"I don't understand Jack, the truth about what?" Gwen demanded. Jack looked at her.

"Owen's back."

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Reviews are loved!x


	10. Chapter 10

Rachel stood apprehensively outside the doors to the TARDIS. The Doctor had vanished almost immediately as soon as Gwen began asking questions, and (to Rachel's annoyance) Rose had followed him. Rachel had been to busy relating massages between Owen and everyone else to follow him herself.

Would he be in there? She hadn't been able to find him in the Hub, and she couldn't think where else he could have gone. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the doors open. "Hello?" she called, but got no response other than a slightly different pitched hum from the TARDIS. "Doctor, are you here? Rose?"

She wondered into the bedroom and froze at the sight of the Doctor and Rose sat on the edge of the bed talking quietly. She cleared her throat loudly and they looked round.

"I should go." Rose said, edging out of the room. As soon as he heard the TARDIS doors close, the Doctor stood up.

"Hey."

"Hey." They both stood there in silence. "Doctor, I…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What?"

"About Owen! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well…because…I thought you might think I was crazy…"

"Oh, so that's what you think of me, is it? Fair enough not telling Jack or the others, but me? I thought we were stronger than that."

"So did I."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You and _her_!"

"Don't bring Rose into this! This is about you."

"Yes! It is! Can you blame me for not telling you, when there's precious perfect Rose sniffing around in the background for you to take instead?"

"Why would I do that?"

"I heard you ask her!"

He blinked. "Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'! I live here as well…"

"That doesn't make it yours."

Rachel blinked. "So it's like that. Your TARDIS, your rules."

"Rachel, I didn't mean it like that."

"So how did you mean it?"

"I…" he shrugged.

"Maybe you'd be better off if I weren't even here!"

"Here we go." He muttered.

"Pardon?"

"It always comes to that, doesn't it? Every time we fight you threaten to leave, but you never do. Because there's nothing you could do elsewhere! You're out of your time, with no sort of ID, and…"

"I could work here!"

Silence rang.

"What?"

"I could work here. Ianto…Ianto said they need someone to replace Tosh. You know, someone good with computers."

"He offered you a _job_?!" the Doctor asked angrily.

"Well, no. but he did mention it. And I am good with computers."

The Doctor just stared at her.

* * *

"You seem tense." Jack said, coming up behind Ianto and running his hands over the younger man's shoulders. "Maybe I could help with that." He leant forwards and kissed Ianto's neck drawing his lips slowly and teasingly over the soft flesh. Ianto leaned into him for a moment with a soft sigh, then seemed to jump slightly and pulled away. "What?" Jack asked bewildered.

"Sorry, Jack. It's not you. It's just…" Ianto shrugged and gestured around the empty room. "What if he's here? Owen, I mean."

"Ianto if he's been here as long as Rachel says he has then he's seen plenty of 'us time'."

Ianto blushed scarlet. "Thanks for that imagery Jack."

"You're welcome." He said with a grin.

Ianto rolled his eyes and looked round the room again. "Doesn't it make you uncomfortable?"

"What?"

"The idea that he's been here the whole time. Watching us. Not able to say anything. Around people all the time but completely alone. The idea he could be here right now and we wouldn't know…" He shuddered. "It just…freaks me out slightly."

Jack sighed. "I know. Just…try not to dwell on it. It'll get easier."

"How would you know?"

Jack looked at him.

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. Really." he sighed. "You know, I spent a long time wishing things had been done differently. Wishing Toshiko and Owen were still here." He looked up at Ianto. "I never thought I'd wish Owen was dead."

"You don't…"

"Ianto, even death is preferable to what he's been through. What he's _going_ through."

Ianto reached out a hand and stroked Jack's chest comfortingly. The older man placed his hand over his and pulled him closer. "You know…if you're worried about…him…we could always go home."

"I'm not sure I…it feels sort of wrong."

"Ianto look at me." Jack cupped the younger man's face in his hands and looked deep into his eyes. "Just because this is bad, you can't think about it too much. You'll go mad. Trust me on that."

Ianto smiled weakly. "You're right. You're right, I just…" he was interrupted by the rift alarm.

"Oh for fucks SAKE!" Jack yelled in frustration. "What is up with that thing?! It hasn't been this active in years. Not since…" he broke off.

"Not since what?"

"That's the thing. I've worked here for over 150 years, and it's never spewed this much stuff before."

At that moment Rachel burst into the Hub closely followed by the Doctor.

"Rachel, babe for goodness sake talk to me."

"I've said all I need to."

"But you can't just…" he broke off when he noticed Jack and Ianto. "Oh. Hi."

"You ok?" Jack asked slowly.

"Fine. Fine." The Doctor squinted over at the computer which was still blaring out a claxon. "You planning on seeing to that?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah." Jack cleared his throat and looked around. His gaze fell on the young woman next to Gwen's desk. "Rachel! With me. We're going monster hunting."

"Sure." Rachel shrugged, standing up and heading for the door, grabbing a gun off one of the desks.

* * *

"You guys ok?" Jack asked, taking a corner so sharply the SUV almost tipped over.

"Who?"

"You and the Doctor. You were arguing."

"It's…fine. Nothing."

"Rose?"

She rolled her eyes. "Gee, don't you catch on quick." She said sarcastically. She glanced at him. "Sorry."

"She's a nice girl, you know. If you gave her a chance I'm sure you'd be friends. You can be quite similar…"

"A little too similar. I'm not an idiot, Jack; I know she still loves the Doctor."

"Rose is a decent human being. She knows you're with him, she wouldn't try and break that up."

Rachel sighed. "I wish I was that sure. I've been a total bitch, haven't I?"

"You just need more confidence in your relationship."

He pulled the SUV to a halt and got out, checking his gun as he went. Rachel followed, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Jack peered around a corner, and then pulled back sharply; eyes open wide.

"Rachel…how fit are you?"

"I dunno. Fairly. Why?"

"We are gonna need every ounce of your Kalamarai skills."

"Why?"

In answer, he indicated for her to look into the room. When she did, she swore quietly and pulled her head back.

The room was huge.

And it was filled with about 50 aliens. With guns.


	11. Chapter 11

**I just realised I haven't updated this story in, like, forever; and even though it's not one of my more popular ones, I hate to abandon stuff! So, here we are! Update!**

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"Ok. Let's go." Jack said with a grin, cocking his weapon. With a nod, Rachel followed him into the room. Instantly, the creatures began roaring and waving weapons about. Now that she was in the middle of them, Rachel could see that not all of them had guns after all. There was a collection of items, ranging from guns to swords to big sticks. She could also see that no matter how many she shot, there didn't seem to be any less trying to catch and kill her.

She ran, and jumped, and tried to bring down as many of the creatures as she possibly could, but something was wrong. She felt slow. Sluggish. Like she was moving through something just that little bit thicker than air.

She heard Jack's yell of pain as he was killed, and glanced round.

It was at that moment something grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the wall. Her eyes opened wide as she stared into the creature's face. It growled, wrinkling up a hairy snout to sniff her. Rachel swallowed, and felt a sharp blade forced against her neck.

She'd let herself get too cocky. Now she was going to pay the price.

She felt the steel press even further into her throat; felt something warm and wet run down the front of her shirt. _I'm going to die. _She realised with a jolt. _I never even said goodbye to the Doctor._

Oh God, the Doctor. The last thing she'd said was that she would leave him. How stupid and insignificant the argument seemed now she would never see him again. So Rose was there, who cares? She was just his friend. Rachel wished she could see him again.

She squeezed her eyes tight shut, unable to take the sights around her anymore. She could barely feel the sting in her throat, it was more like a numbing pain. She saw a burst of blinding light from behind her eyelids and felt a sudden falling sensation.

_I'm so sorry, Doctor_.

* * *

"She'll come around you know."

"Hmm?" the Doctor looked up over his cup of tea and smiled at Rose.

"Rachel. She'll get over it."

"I know. I know she will. But…" he sighed.

"But?"

"What about the next time? Or the time after that? She's just so…_young_."

"She's the same age I was!" Rose protested.

The Doctor smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. And she's not normally like this; so insecure and childish. But…" he puffed out his cheeks and sighed again. Then he frowned. "She's in trouble."

"What?"

"Rachel. She's in trouble."

"How the hell do you know?"

The Doctor breathed in sharply through his teeth. "You remember how I used to tease you about my spidey-senses tingling?"

"Yeah?"

"Well…it wasn't exactly teasing. When I'm close to someone I can pick up on their…emotional…wave frequencies."

"Right." Rose thought about this for a second. "Doesn't that get…I dunno…annoying?"

"Sometimes."

"I'm sure she's fine."

"Yeah. Probably. She is with Jack." he said. But he didn't sound convinced.

"Exactly. Jack can look after her."

"It's not that I'm worried about, Rachel can look after herself. It's just…" he broke off. "Oh. It's gone."

"What?"

"The distress signal. It's just completely died. There's nothing there anymore."

Rose nudged him with her shoulder. "See? You're worrying over nothing."

"Yeah." he sighed and frowned into the distance. "Nothing."

* * *

Gwen glanced around the tourist office from her vantage point behind the desk. "Um…hello?" she said quietly. She instantly felt really stupid. "Oh God, I'm talking to thin air." she took a breath. "Owen? Are you there, can you here me?" there was no reaction, but then again she'd been expecting that. "Owen, are you there? I don't know. Look, if you are I just wanted to say…oh God, I miss you. I miss you so much, it hasn't been the same without you and Tosh. It just seems so unfair that Rachel can see you and I cant. Why her, Owen? Did you pick her? I don't know how this works." she shrugged, wiping her eyes. "I wish you could talk to me sweetheart." she whispered.

From over her shoulder, Owen placed a hand against her unfeeling cheek. "I wish I could too."

* * *

It took Rachel a good few minutes to realise she wasn't actually dead. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped as she took in the scene around her. Every single one of the alien creatures were unconscious. She raised a hand slowly to her neck, gingerly feeling the cut. It didn't seem as deep as she'd feared. She picked up her fallen weapon and looked around. First things first: she needed to find Jack. She stepped around several bodies, then froze when she heard a crash. Her elation at finding herself alive was quickly replaced by fear of what the hell had knocked out all these things. "Jack?" she called, then winced when she felt a fresh wave of blood run down her front. Ok; maybe the wound was deeper than she'd first thought. No talking.

She looked down at her shirt. It was ruined. It was her favourite one as well…still, couldn't be helped. With a regretful sigh, she tore a thick strip off the bottom of it and wrapped it securely around her neck. _that should stop it bleeding so much_ she thought as she looked round for Jack. Then she felt a gun pressed against the back of her neck and cursed silently. What was wrong with her today?

"Tell me the name of your commander." hissed a voice from behind her. Rachel swallowed nervously. "Your commander!" it insisted, louder this time.

"Forget it, these primitive pigs cant talk." came a second voice. Higher. More feminine. "The thick one showed us that."

"I can talk fine thanks very much." Rachel said indignantly. "Can I turn around?"

After a second she heard a murmur of assent. She turned slowly on the spot and stared at the new comers. They were almost the exact opposite of the other creatures. They could almost have been mistaken for human if it weren't for the strange markings on their faces and the red gleam of their eyes. They also held Jack, tied and at gun-point. "Who are you, pig?" asked the female.

"Less of the 'pig' thank you." she snapped. "You're on Earth. That makes me human."

"Human? Not much higher."

Rachel decided she'd probably have more luck talking to the other one. "why're you here?"

"You brought us here. Your Rift, pulling us off course and into an ambush of these…things."

"Ok, that wasn't us. We don't want these things here. Or you, no offence." she licked her lips. She was beginning to feel dizzy. "Look, I have a friend. He can get you out of here. He's called the Doctor."

"Doctor?" the male's head jerked with interest. "**The** Doctor? Tall, scruffy, stripy suit?"

"That's the one. You know him?"

"Yes, I…" he studied her again. "Rachel?"

She blinked. "Ok, that was weird."

"Is that you? Rachel?"

"That's me, yeah. Who are you?"

He smiled. "Jor-Och. This is my sister, Mei-Och."

"Jor…" she frowned. Then her expression cleared as she remembered. About a month ago she and the Doctor had landed on a small planet under a vast war. Och was the name of the king's family. Only the Jor-Och she remembered was a weedy child. This guy was at least 25 and…well…hot. "Oh my God!" she stepped forwards and hugged him.

Jack cleared his throat. "Erm…if you've quite finished hugging the people who've tied me up?"

"Oh. Sorry." she pulled back. "Jor, this is Jack. A friend of mine."

"My apologies." he said with a nod, releasing him. "I thought you were a mere pig."

"Yeah, well." Jack looked incredibly put out.

"Ok, we need to get these guys back to the Hub. And then I need to…to…" she reached up a hand to her throat. She felt suddenly incredibly dizzy, and could see stars dancing in her vision. "Jack?"

He turned to look at the young woman, just in time to see her crash to the floor, completely unconscious.

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I know nothing about neck wounds, so I'm just gonna pretend it's survivable to have one that deep. Reviews are loved!


	12. Chapter 12

**Oh I haven't updated this in FOREVER! Sorry! This is dedicated to those of you still reading, especially those who review :)**

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Martha jumped, almost spilling her drink, as her phone rang.

"Bloody hell, Martha!" commented her friend Sarah, "Don't you ever turn that thing off?"

Martha rolled her eyes. She was in the pub with a couple of friends from university who were down in Cardiff for a couple of days. She looked at the phone display and frowned. "Its work." she answered. "Jack?"

"Martha! Where are you?!"

"I'm with a couple of friends. Jack, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Rachel's hurt. I'm not sure how badly, but…look, get back to the Hub ASAP. She's lost a lot of blood."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." she said, hanging up the phone and pulling on her coat. "Sorry people, but I've gotta run."

"Why?"

"It's an emergency at work. I'm sorry."

"Can't someone else cover it?"

"Look, I…I'm sorry, I'll meet you later or something, yeah?" she grabbed her bag and ran from the pub.

"Honestly," muttered Sarah, picking up Martha's abandoned drink and having a sip, "they could have let her have one afternoon off! You'd think she was the only doctor in the place!"

The others nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Rachel?" Jack called, glancing in the rear-view mirror. Jor-Och was sat on the backseat with Rachel lying next to him, his hand over her throat in an attempt to prevent bleeding. She was still unconscious. Jor-Och turned his head and said something to Jack, but he couldn't understand him. Whatever the TARDIS did to get into your head and translate languages, it seemed to have gotten rusty.

"In English?" he asked. The alien frowned, then shrugged and shook his head. Jack sighed and glanced at the passenger seat where Mei-Och was sat, but the female seemed even less inclined to talk, and was staring fixedly out of the window.

He pulled the SUV to a halt outside the Hub, jumping out and wrenching open the door to help lift Rachel out. Her pulse was even weaker than before, and Jack cursed himself, wondering if she had any other injuries he hadn't noticed.

The Doctor looked round when the door alarm sounded; hoping to be able to talk to Rachel about their row earlier. He visibly paled when he saw his girlfriend being carried into the hub by Jack deathly pale and covered in blood.

"What happened?!" he demanded, abandoning what he was doing and hurrying over, closely followed by Rose.

"She was cut. Badly."

The Doctor turned to the man who had just spoken. "And you are…?"

"My name is Jor-Och, Doctor. Peace be on your house."

"And on the house of your fathers." the Doctor replied hurriedly. "What do you mean, cut? And who _are _you?"

"Jor-Och. We met many years ago, when I was a child, although I see the years have had no hold over you and Rachel." he sighed. "We believed ourselves ambushed. Our ship was pulled off course and into the Rift. When my sister and I regained consciousness, there were dozens, maybe hundreds, of hostile creatures. It was them that hurt Rachel."

The Doctor almost ran down into the autopsy room where Jack had taken Rachel. Jack looked up. "Is Martha here?" he snapped.

"No."

"Damn it!"

"What about the sonic screwdriver?" Rose asked from behind him, "Can't it heal wounds?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Only minor ones. I try and seal that up, she could continue bleeding internally."

"Well can't you do _something_?"

The Doctor shot Rose a glare that could have killed. "Do you really think I wouldn't do everything in my power to save her?" he growled.

"I'm…I'm sorry."

The Doctor bent low over the wound, examining it. "I can't see what I'm doing!" he cried in frustration. "Damn it, we need Martha!" he paused, frowning. "…or maybe another doctor…"

"What?" Jack asked, confused. "You're not seriously suggesting we take her to a hospital?!"

"No. Owen's here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Owen had been sitting in the autopsy room when Jack first brought Rachel down. He'd been thinking about the various tests he could be running, things he could be analysing, if he could only touch things. The loneliness wasn't the only hellish thing about his existence. It was the boredom too. To be surrounded by people and things that you loved and not be able to interact with any of them…sometimes Owen wondered if Jack was completely wrong about the darkness. If maybe there really was a hell. Because if there was, he felt sure he was in it.

He looked up when Jack came running down the stairs and placed Rachel gently on the table. "Come on, you're stronger than this rach." Jack breathed, hooking her up to the obs machine. "Fight. You have to keep fighting…"

"Rachel…" If Owen had still had a working heart, he felt sure it would have stopped right then. The sight of the young woman lying there, pale and bleeding and almost lifeless…he leapt up and ran over. "Oh, shit. That's a lot of blood loss." instinctively he reached for the gauze and forceps, but his hand went right through them. He blinked, stunned, as if it had only just occurred to him that he couldn't touch them. "No." he said quietly. "No NO **NO**!" but he knew it was no good protesting, he couldn't touch them. "What the hell's the point of me being here if I can't help?!" he yelled at the ceiling. "Let me help her!" he turned back to the girl on the table. "She can't die."

And for once Owen wasn't thinking selfishly. Ok, so maybe he was a bit. He didn't want to lose the one person he'd been able to talk to in almost a year. But it was more than that. He genuinely didn't want her to die. He didn't want to lose his friend.

Then the Doctor had run in and looked at Rachel as though his hearts were breaking. He tried to help, but it was clear to Owen he didn't know what he was doing, and it wasn't helped by Rose and Jack hovering round him.

"Damn it, we need Martha!" he paused, frowning. "…or maybe another doctor…"

"What?" Jack asked, confused. "You're not seriously suggesting we take her to a hospital?!"

"No. Owen's here."

Owen looked up, surprised. He'd forgotten the Doctor could sense him as well. "Yes! Yes, I'm here, I can help!"

Jack frowned. "What can Owen do though? None of us can see him, or hear him."

"He has to be able to do something!" the Doctor snapped. He looked like he was thinking hard. "He's here, he's in this world. Which in itself is impossible, by the way. So…something else impossible maybe?" he ran a hand through his hair, "Maybe…I don't know, thought projection?"

"Thought projection?"

"Well…the weevils pick up on him, he has control over them!"

"But don't you think he would have tried that before? Tried to make us realise he was here?"

The Doctor's face fell, but then he perked up again slightly. "Maybe. But he's only tried it on humans, and I pride myself on having a far superior brain to a human. No offence or anything." he looked around the room. "Come on, Owen. Try. Reach out to me." he closed his eyes and concentrated. It had to work, it just had to. If he lost Rachel…he honestly didn't know what he'd do. He wasn't ready yet. "Come on, Owen. Try and reach me, tell me what I can do."

"I'm trying!" hissed Owen in frustration.

On the heart monitor, Rachel's pulse dipped even lower.

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Reviews are loved more than cookies x


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